Moving my library!

is there a way to get the songs on the Ipod onto itunes? i just got a new laptop and would like to move songs from y ipod onto that itunes but i don't know how.

acsgrlie,
These links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software
PodUtil Software
Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
XPlay (Software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
After recovering your song files, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation.
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is not considered having any backup.
If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
Backup both the music files and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl). What are the iTunes Library files?
Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy: http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=394618&messageID=1263275

Similar Messages

After moving the library, itunes shows less songs than music folder in finder does

hi all.
after moving my library manually, i have this situation:
1220 songs in music folder;
1091 songs in itunes.
all the songs in itunes are regularly matched with the original file in the finder.
now. how to find the 29 files which are not in itunes? i don't care why this happened !!
thanks to all in advance

in my itunes media folder there are not audio files! they are stored in music folder of the macintosh hd, as you can see from these screenshots. do you have any suggestion?

HT1229 Tried moving my library to an external hard drive and now when I open iPhoto, there are no pictures there!!!!

I am using iPhoto '08 and moved my library to my external hard drive exactly as all the instructions online explained how to do. I renamed the original "iPhoto Library.old" and ,y external hard drive shows a iPhoto library using the same amount of memory as what it shows on my internal hard drive. Here is where is becomes a problem. When I hold the option key and open iPhoto, the only box that comes up does not give me a list of libraries to choose from. It give me the option to "Create new library" or "choose existing library". When I click "choose existing library" I can find the copied library on my external hard drive but when I open it, iPhoto shows No Photos. When I have tried opening the original iPhoto Library (the exact same way using the option key and choosing library) that I have not done anything to, except rename it, it does the exact same thing: No Photos. Both my internal and external hard drives show about 137 GB of space being taken up by photos but I can't access them. My other big problem is that ,y internal hard drive is completely full, which is why I am trying to transfer them to an external, to free up space so I am very limited on what I can do because I have no free space. Also, when I open iPhoto and try to go to the Preferences to change to path under advanced settings, it freezes and I have to force close it.
Ay advice would be greatly appreciated as I am getting stressed out that I can't open my thousands of photos!

My guess is that the library has been corrupted from being run on an overfull HD.
So, try rebuild the Library on the External
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I moved my iTunes library to my external hard drive some time ago and I followed the directions listed here on the apple support page. It did copy my library and now is on my hard drive... I can open iTunes and use it to sync all of my devices but I would like to play my music... I can see all of my music files but can not play them if I click on an album or song it says the following: "(file name) could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I click locate but do not know where to go from there? I need a way to access all files and not to hunt down one at a time on my hard drive... I am pretty sure I deleted the original library to make space on my internal drive which was the reason for moving it. I have tried and tried to fix it and do not have a lot of time to do so with a one and two year old at my house who do not like it whenI sit down at my computer. What to do??? Any help is much appreciated!!!

See Make a split library portable. Move all of the bits of the library together in the the correct shape and it should work. Or undo exactly what you did and then start over.
If you're a former Windows user don't try merging two folders together that have the same name by dropping one into the same folders as the other, as that goes badly on a Mac.
tt2

HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

HT203167 Moved iTunes library from one computer to another using external hard drive. Cannot play many files. Says they are missing but locates them in an archive file but still won't play them. Are the files themselves part of the .itl files?

Moved iTunes library from old computer (PC Windows 7) to new (PC Window 8) using external hard drive. Library listing shows all music but can only play a fraction of it. On the ones it cannot play it asks to locate, then refers to an archived version (an .itl file), and still cannot play them. Do I just need to copy the archived .itl over, or is that not where the actual media are (do the actual media files even exist on the new computer?)? Any advice or information on this would be helpful.

*Also...is there any way I can filter out all the tracks with the ! so I can delete the unplaying copies as they're taking up room in my iTunes? I know how to find duplicates, but then I have to go and delete each one individually...*
*Thank you!*

Moved itunes library to ext drive now i cannot find music

i have moved my library to an external hard drive and then deleted content from my computer, now itunes cannot locate library when drive is connected, how do i make itunes work again? i even copied from ext drive back to computer and still no luck, im totally lost

There is exactly one way to move your library to an external HD.
If you try it any other way, you will be greeted with exclamation points and other hassles.
The one way is: Go to preferences and point your iTunes Music folder to the new location. Then run Consolidate Library.
Also, once you have your library on the external, never start up iTunes without the external being turned on and accessible. Otherwise, iTunes reverts the location to the local drive.

Moved my library to external hard drive...now nothing will play!

I just moved my library to an external hard drive, and now I can't play anything. ITunes says it can't locate the original file, and asks to locate it individually. Any thoughts on how to get ITunes to recognize my new drive as the location where all the files are?

Delete the existing entries in iTunes and drag the folder with the music into the open iTunes window.
(36219)

Moving iTunes library to new pc on Windows 8

I have moved my library across using an external hard drive and following these instructions http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4527
It still doesn't work and I get an error message saying "The iTunes Library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the "i Tunes" folder in the "music" folder
But the iTunes library IS in that folder - see screenprint
Help!

Thanks.
So your current library folder is C:\Users\Sam\Music\iTunes your media folder is D:\iTunes, and your media folder appears to be in the old school layout.
To fix up your library first use the menu option File > Library > Organize Library... Tick both of the boxes Rearrange files and Consolidate files. This should ensure that any stray files linked to the library from say your desktop, are copied into the media folder, and the media folder transformed into the modern layout.
The only file you should see in D:\iTunes at this point is called .iTunes Preferences.plist. Please remove any other files present into say D:\Temp and check the iTunes still works properly. I suspect that at some point you either copied some of the iTunes installer files to this path, or tried to install the application on this drive instead of the system drive. The file dates suggest an older version than the one currently in use so that should not be an issue. The following unwanted folders may also be present and should be removed:
CD Configuration
iTunes.Resources
iTunes.Helper.Resources
Mozilla Plugins
Now close iTunes and copy the following items from C:\Users\Sam\Music\iTunes into D:\
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
sentinel (hidden file, you can use options in Windows Explorer to show this)
Ignore the .xml file at this stage iTunes is going to make a new one with a slightly different name.
When all of the files have been copied across press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to D:\iTunes Library.itl. iTunes should open normally and your library should function as before but now using a database file on the external drive.
Assuming all has gone well close iTunes and rename the folder D:\Itunes as D:\iTunes Media. For the sake of my OCD please observe the lower case i, and the capitals T and M. Start iTunes. iTunes should automatically adjust the path to the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to D:\iTunes Media. If it has failed to do so please make that correction manually then close and reopen iTunes. Check that content still plays.
Close iTunes again. Create a new folder in D:\ called iTunes (again the lower case i and the capital T please). Now move the following items from D:\ down into D:\iTunes
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Media (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library.xml
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
sentinel
Launch iTunes. It will complain that the library is missing. Click choose, then browse to and open D\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Check that the media folder has automatically corrected itself to D:\iTunes\iTunes Media and that your media plays.
Congratulations. Your library is now fully portable. You can connect the drive to your new computer, delete the existing iTunes folder inside your user's music folder and copy in the one from this external drive.
I suggest you keep the two copies of the library in sync with the techniques in Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer need to access protected media on it.
<Edit>
Ah, seems you've managed to get there without needing all of the steps, however if you have trouble getting content to play you may still need to do so, or you can adapt them to get your library fully portable and backed up for the future.
</Edit>
tt2

Moving iPhoto library to a second drive bay on a MacPro

My iPhoto library is 190 GB and I need to move it to an alternate drive bay on my MacPro. I copied (not moved) the library over to the new drive. When I launch iPhoto, it still uses the original iPhoto library on the home drive (even if I launch with Alt iPhoto). I was expecting to be asked in a dialog which library I wanted to point to, but I didn't get a dialog. Is that because it's on a different drive, not just a different folder? Before I delete the original library I want to make sure I have done this properly and iPhoto is pointing to the new drive bay.
Thank you.

When you depress the option (alt) key and launch iPhoto you should get a window showing all of your iPhoto libraries so you can select one - are you not getting this window or does it contain only one library?
TO verify where the library you are using is launch iPhoto and open an event - select a photo and right click (control click) on it and select the show file (or shoe original file) option and see the path to it (I like the column view to do this)
if you find that you do not have a valid iPhoto library on the second drive just quit iPhoto and trash the one you copied to the second drive and drag the iPhoto library as a single entity (just one drag operation) from the pictures folder on the first drive to the second drive and launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key - you should see both libraries not - select the one on the second drive, test it and then you can quit iPhoto and delete the one on the first drive ( I suggest launching iPhoto one more time and verifying that things are good before emptying the trash)
LN

Can't find the pictures after moving the library to EHD

I followed the instructions of moving the iphoto library to the external HD. I created an alias and moved it to the Pictures folder. I opened IPhoto and I can see all the events and thumbnails, however when I try to open any picture and I get the message that the picture is not found. I guess is that the picture files are located outside the library. the library has the pointers to the old folders....
I have 17000 pictures, how can I find each of them?
I tried opening IPhoto with the "option" key pressed and choosing the library in the EHD. I get the same result. I can see all the events and thumbnails but It can't find the pictures.
Message was edited by: calfon1

Did you try opening and checking the validity of your library before you copied it back to the EHD? By not finding some of the photos do you mean you get the "!" window when you double click on a thumbnail?
If so then try the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your User/Library/Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache files that are located in the User/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
3 - reboot, launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding the the Option key. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
Fix #2
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select options #1 and #6.
If all else fails create a new empty library on the EHD and do the following: sart over with a new library and import the Originals folder from your original library as follows:
Creating a new library while preserving the Events from the original library.
1. Move the existing library folder to the desktop.
2. Open the library package like this.
Click to view full size
3. Launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
4. Drag the Originals folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open iPhoto window.
This will create a new library with the same Events as the original library if you have the Finder checkbox unchecked in the Events preference pane.
Then you can compare the number of photos between this library and the other to see if either is more complete.
Message was edited by: Old Toad

Sync problems since moving iTunes library to external HD

My wife's MacBook Pro is the syncing computer for our house. Since she moved her library to an external drive we have had to start all over. iTunes is current. In preferences the library is mapped correctly to where it resides on the external drive. The sync begins and then almost immediately stops with an error message that the file type (music and TV shows total of 100 errors) is not supported by this Apple TV. The Apple TV has been reauthorized in iTunes Store. I am as I write this syncing the photos, but since they are in iPhoto, that seems to work fine. I disabled the syncing of music for this sync until I get this figured out. The cover art for all the movies and TV shows is not available. All of this content synced fine before the change to the external drive. I suspect that once the photos are done syncing the TV shows and movies won't sync because the above mentioned error messages will prevent this from happening.
Any help much appreciated.
CD3

Hi Winston,
After 4 hours of futzing around and finally fixing, I found my answer on the iTunes forum. Simply mapping the external drive which now has the content to iTunes, is not enough. All that does is tell iTunes where to put new purchases. The library list is there, but when trying to play or sync anything, there is an alert exclamation mark. When you click on that it tells you that the song can't be found and asks would you like to find it. I knew something was wrong when none of the cover art was available. So I did a test and "found" 2 missing songs, and 2 TV shows. The exclamation mark then disappeared next to each, the songs played, and I tried to sync just the aforementioned content, and that worked perfectly.
So now I'm faced (since I didn't know how to do this, and frankly still don't have the easy answer) with "finding" every single piece of content manually. Yikes!. So I found on the iTunes forum the "add to library" command and everything shows up fine and plays fine except that I now have duplicates of everything. One each of the exclamation point and one of the real content. LOTS! 1000 plus songs, 2 dozen movies 100 plus TV shows, audio books, podcasts.
Here is where I don't know the easy solution, which you may know for future reference, once you've "added to library. What I ended up doing was deleting all the exclamtion points one by one. That part alone took and hour and a half of near midnight, very tired, bleary eyes. The good thing was if you happen to accidentally try to delete the real content as you go down the list you get a warning. I checked the trash when I was done, so nothing was accidentally deleted.
The sync took quite a long time, about 9 hours, because there is alot of video content, but it's all on the TV now. Everything! Phew!
Do you know of an easier way to do this when you put your library on an external drive? Or should this question be posted on the iTunes forum. I may do that anyway.
Many thanks for your help.
CD3

Moved Itunes library now imovie cannot find the audio in my project

I just moved itunes library from my external drive to an internal drive on my Mac laptop. Now iMovie cannot find the music tracks for my project. How do I tell iMovie where to look for the new location of iTunes library

I'm the same as you with this one.
I had to move my itunes library to a new hard drive because it was taking up too much space. Now my imovie projects can't find my itunes library. One sound track when I right clicked in imovie I had the option to find media so I just located the same file but in a new location. This, however, doesn't work for all audio in my many projects.
I'm feeling very disheartened with the whole thing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Poppet

I moved my library to an external hard drive. Now I can't sync photos on my iPad. Can anyone hep?

After moving my library to an external hard drive, I can't sync photos on my iPad. Has anyone had this problem?

William,
Did you move all your photos to the external drive, or your library to the external drive, or both?
I have started wondering if photo sharing works if the source of the photo is an external drive. I.e., what will iTunes do if you try to sync and your library is not accessible, because you stored it on an external drive and it is not plugged in? Will it remove all of the Aperture photos from your iPad, since the source of the photos (Aperture library) is effectively empty, since it is missing? Maybe iTunes takes that into account and just ignored libraries that are not local.
Can you see Aperture library in other application using a media browser, like Desktop & Screen Saver or iPhoto (browse Apertuer library)?
nathan

Moved iPhoto library to Dropbox, didn't free up any space on HD

I was running very low on HD space so I moved my 13 gb iPhoto library to Dropbox. After transfering, I opened iPhoto and defined the new photo library as the appropriate Dropbox folder. Everything is working well with iPhoto. All my photos and videos load just fine and the file sources are the Dropbox folder.
The problem: my HD has barely any more space than before. It's hard to tell precisely because the free space measure is dynamic, but it looks as if moving the library cleared about 1 gb at most, and certainly nothing even close to 13 gb.
I've emptied the trash on my computer, with no change. I have searched forum discussions, but I can't figure it out.
I appreciate any help!
-SMB

In the latest version of dropbox, you'll select the icon from the magic menu in upper right at the bottom of the list is the "cog wheel" icon. Click it, and select "Preferences" Under "Advanced" click "Selective Sync" You will see all the folders (By default all of them) that are synced locally to your internal drive as well as in the cloud. By unchecking the folder that your iPhoto library is in, it will no longer store that 13 GB file on your hard drive, but instead keep it at DropBox only. Hope that explanation makes sense. I have over 110 GB of Dropbox and am considering moving my 30 GB iPhoto there permanently. I'm on too many machines and editing all over the place so an external drive could not keep up with me

Moved IPhoto library, but Data did not transfer

So I recently moved my I Photo Library to my external. I do not have time machine so I did this manually (if you can call it Manual). 1st off, my data (photos) didn't transfer with it, and when I moved the library back to my computer it was detached from the data. How do I reconnect the two, and THEN properly move it back to my external.

So I recently moved my I Photo Library to my external. I do not have time machine so I did this manually (if you can call it Manual). 1st off, my data (photos) didn't transfer with it, and when I moved the library back to my computer it was detached from the data. How do I reconnect the two, and THEN properly move it back to my external.
Exactly how did you do this?
Time Machine has nothing and could not possibly be involved with moving your iPhoto library to an external drive
The correct way to move the iPhoto library to an external drive is to simply drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive and then depress the option key and launch iPhoto and use the select library option to point to it - fully test it in the new location and then delete the old library on the internal drive (testing one more time prior to emptying the trash)
iPhoto is a database program and if you corrupt its database you will need to load your current backup or start over and reimport the photos - to start over be sure that the option to create events from items imported from the finder is unchecked and open the originals folder in the unusable library and drag each folder of photos in it onto the iPhoto icon in the dock (or the iPhoto window) - this will recreate your events with the original photos
LN

Moving my library!

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